USWA announces end to illegal lockout - longest in US labor history

Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sept. 18— The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) announced today that its 2,900 members at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation would start returning to work under the terms of a new five-year labor agreement finalized by Interest Arbitrator Seymour Strongin’s award released earlier in the day. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ records, the Kaiser lockout, which started on January 14, 1999, was the largest labor dispute in 1999 as measured by lost work days, accounting for 750,000 idled work days out of the national total of just under two million.

USWA Negotiating Committee Chairman David Foster said, “We also believe that the 613-day lockout is the largest and longest illegal lockout of any union since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.” The lockout was preceded by a 3-1/2-month strike that commenced on September 30, 1998.

On June 30, 2000 the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Kaiser, charging that the lockout was unlawful from its inception. As a result, the Federal Government will be prosecuting Kaiser before an Administrative Law judge in a trial scheduled to begin on November 13, 2000. The government is seeking back pay for the employees for the entire period of the lockout, a sum that is estimated by the USWA to be $337 million. It is the largest back pay award ever sought in the 65-year history of the National Labor Relations Board.

“This has been an epic struggle for our union and the labor and environmental movements in the Americas,” said David Foster, Director of USWA District #11 and Chairman of the union’s Kaiser Negotiating Committee. “Our members will start receiving Special Assistance Payments from the company immediately and, over the course of the next month, will return to their jobs. Without the unflagging support of the labor movement throughout the country and especially in the Northwest and the inspirational support of environmental organizations and activists, this day would not have come.”

In a statement on July 13, 2000 following membership ratification of the Interest Arbitration Agreement, Foster said, “Kaiser’s Steelworkers did not ask for this fight. But once they were given no choice, their creative and steadfast struggle became a symbol for the fight for workers’ rights in a global economy. The Kaiser Steelworkers will long be remembered for their progressive and far-reaching alliance with environmentalists around the country, and particularly in Humboldt County, California, to bring corporate accountability to Kaiser’s parent corporation, Maxxam, Inc. Kaiser Steelworkers will also be remembered as the labor movement’s shock troops in the WTO protests that opened the eyes of the world to the linkage between trade and social issues.” Hundreds of Kaiser Steelworkers marched in Seattle in late 1999 to protest the WTO ministerial, Foster said.

“The Kaiser lockout became a social struggle that transcended the narrow parameters of a labor/management dispute. It symbolized the need for Americans of conscience to bridge their differences and focus on building a global movement for economic justice,” he added.

An important product of the USWA/environmental alliance was the formation in 1999 of the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment. Earth First!, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups lent crucial support to the steelworkers’ campaigns. The Alliance has played a formative role in bringing together labor and environmental activists on campaigns for corporate accountability and fair trade policies, including support for activist Julia Hill Butterfly’s widely publicized tree-sit in protest of Maxxam’s Pacific Lumber logging practices.

Source: United Steelworkers of America: www.uswa.org

Wide support for Los Angeles transit strikers

By Preston Wood

Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 28— Members of Los Angeles United Transit Union, representing 4,300 bus drivers and train operators, headed for the picket lines Sept. 16 after negotiations broke down with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).

The strike shut down the nation’s second-largest transit system, including buses, subways and rail lines.

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor head Miguel Contreras and UTU President James Williams denounced the MTA for failing to negotiate in good faith with the drivers.

“The union,” Contreras said, “feels it is being forced out on strike because of management’s failure to bargain seriously.

“Talks have not been fruitful. Talks have not been productive.”

Contreras explained that MTA negotiators sent to meet with the union lacked any power to reach an agreement. Throughout the talks negotiators were forced to confer by telephone with elected officials before agreeing on points of discussion.

Unions honor picket lines

Two other unions — the Transportation Communications International Union, representing 650 clerical workers, and the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 1,800 mechanics — struck the MTA in solidarity with the drivers and operators.

Dozens of unions are honoring the drivers’ picket lines. Five shuttle buses from Union Station were cancelled June 18 after Teamster drivers refused to cross picket lines, the Associated Press reported.

At stake is the workers’ refusal to agree to $2 million in givebacks. The MTA wants to reduce drivers’ pay by 15 percent by shifting to a four-day work week. They would be forced to work 10-to-12-hour days with no overtime pay.

The MTA also wants to reduce overtime by hiring more part-time drivers, who would eventually replace full-time drivers through attrition.

In addition to what the MTA calls “creating a new work week,” management wants to cut benefits for union members.

Today the MTA pleads poverty. But the agency has long been wracked by charges that it mismanages funds and plans poorly. Five years ago the MTA built itself a 26-story glass-domed headquarters.

Management now seeks to shift its deficit—said to be $430 million over the next decade—onto the backs of drivers, clerical workers, mechanics and engineers. The MTA threatens to raise bus and subway fares if it doesn’t get its way.

The MTA falsely claims that all drivers and operators make around $50,000 a year. In reality, entry-level bus drivers make just $8 an hour. Only a tiny number of veteran drivers make $20 an hour, after many years on the job.

Solidarity from riders

Despite a massive media campaign to pit the public against the strikers, even the anti-labor Los Angeles Times admitted Sept. 16 that there is overwhelming support for the workers — especially from those who ride the buses and trains every day.

Sixty-eight percent of the 500,000 workers who use the buses and subways each day earn less than $15,000 per year. Over three-quarters are Black and Latino and many are immigrant workers.

“I blame the MTA for making it a difficult situation,” said Shepard Petit, a disabled student who takes the bus to college.

Meanwhile, unions and community organizations vow to mount activities in support of the striking workers.

“This fight concerns all of us,” said John Parker of the Los Angeles International Action Center. “We are eager to join with everyone in Los Angeles to mount a campaign in solidarity with the striking MTA workers. The banks and corporations should be taxed to provide better wages and benefits for the transit workers and more service for those who depend on public transportation.

“We’re confident that the union will be victorious,” Parker said.

Source: Workers World: www.workers.org

Kmart workers approve contract

Troy, Michigan, Sept. 25— Kmart Corp. warehouse workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union ratified a labor contract guaranteeing higher pay, a signing bonus and paid days off, the UAW said Sunday. The three-year contract covers about 1,600 employees at Kmart distribution centers in Warren, Ohio, and Morrisville, Pa.

The workers will receive signing bonuses of $2,300 and hourly wage increases of $1 in the first year and 35 cents in both the second and third years, UAW spokeswoman Geraldine Ochocinska said. The contract provides 15 personal days, 10 of which are paid, a premium for second- and third-shift workers, health insurance and a retirement plan, the UAW said. Kmart officials couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Source: Bloomberg News

Farm workers end strike

Yakima, Washington, Sept. 21— Farm workers at Flat Top Orchards, a mid-Columbia apple grower owned by the Yakima-based Borton and Sons, have ended a five-week strike over wage rollbacks, the longest organized work stoppage during harvest season in the history of the state.

Management ultimately agreed to written disclosure of wage rates, a guarantee of piece-rate pay instead of the minimum wage, and a clause protecting against gender and age discrimination.

“It took enormous courage for these workers to stand together for so long,” said Lupe Gamboa, United Farm Workers of America’s regional director. “I think their perseverance and dedication has surprised and alarmed the grower community, and ultimately will be seen as a turning point in the battle to organize our most exploited workforce, and collectively improve their working and living conditions.”

Source: Farm Worker Movement: